The region is known for its wildlife, but industrial development, pollution and climate change are threatening several species and putting this reputation at risk.
About 1,000 mostly young activists demanded carbon neutrality by 2030, protection of migrant rights and the defunding and demilitarization of police services.
World leaders have pledged to clamp down on pollution, embrace sustainable economic systems and eliminate the dumping of plastic waste in oceans by the middle of the century as part of "meaningful action" to halt the destruction of nature on Earth.
Massachusetts medical centers are part of a nascent effort to make sure climate change is part of the curriculum in hospital residency programs across the country.
The North Bay's Wine Country once again became a scene of chaos on Sunday and early Monday as wildfires burned on the east and west side of the Napa Valley and blazed toward Santa Rosa, where residential neighborhoods were being engulfed in flames.
Three House Democrats are questioning the Environmental Protection Agency's decision to postpone a training that was part of a series on environmental inequity faced by communities of color and low-income communities last month.
Elders have long played a key role in the conservation movement. Tampa Bay seniors are using their resources and time to combat climate change together.
The violations included failure to properly maintain erosion and sedimentation best management practices, drilling fluid spills, and sediment discharge into waterways.
The world's largest offshore wind project — the 3.6-gigawatt Dogger Bank farm in the North Sea — announced it will be using the world's largest turbines to generate electricity for more than 4.5 million homes in the United Kingdom.
In their congressional careers, both Vice President Mike Pence and Sen. Kamala Harris fell within the norm for their respective parties.
<p> Pence's six terms as an Indiana Congressman won him a 4 percent score from the <a href="http://lcv.org" target="_blank">League of Conservation Voters</a>, which compiles an annual performance scorecard rating House and Senate members for "good" and "bad" environmental votes. As Indiana governor and as Vice President, Pence stuck to the GOP's twin themes of climate denial and regulatory rollbacks. In her first four years as a U.S. Senator, the LCV rated Sen. Harris—who has pressed on <a href="https://insideclimatenews.org/news/24062019/kamala-harris-climate-change-global-warming-election-2020-candidate-profile" target="_blank">environmental justice and clean energy</a>—at 91 percent. </p><p>The two prior VP candidates that led with environment? You've probably already figured out at least one of them, Al Gore. The other one served two terms from 2001 to 2009, Dick Cheney.</p><p class="shortcode-media shortcode-media-rebelmouse-image">
<img type="lazy-image" data-runner-src="https://assets.rebelmouse.io/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpbWFnZSI6Imh0dHBzOi8vYXNzZXRzLnJibC5tcy8yMzU1Nzg3MC9vcmlnaW4uanBnIiwiZXhwaXJlc19hdCI6MTYxMzg1MDE1NX0.2Zw_J3Fy4yWeHrxg0U_Z5oTLdTkKzwYA75ofHxRuGA4/img.jpg?width=980" id="fc71d" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="c48712976bf80ee4d628d57fadccf08c" data-rm-shortcode-name="rebelmouse-image">
<small class="image-media media-photo-credit" placeholder="Add Photo Credit..."> Vice President Al Gore. (Credit: <a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/americanprogressaction/3809355485/in/photolist-6NBWER-Zhxrus-Zhxs17-7ojxur-3nseqS-6eW44w-7B3HeQ-49D91D-65m35n-6NBWF4-ar6HcM-65m38e-65qjqW-6PAZVv-ZhxrJA-6PB11e-7Yy4gb-65qjo5-21nLTyp-GrozTX-Zhxsdm-VPymVv-MjkW7Q-a5mdEf-a5im5k-a5im62-a5im5v-a5im6v-a5im4e-97NHBj-a5mdCm-9bh5Yi-pwhLU-pwhMB-pwhNt-M7xM4-5A54NX-5A54QF-grQri-4dyqYy-qf7qZ-9bmEzY-7h1j9M-p4NNdA-M7pr7-CXHUP-a5hzSN-a5hzQS-3n1QnM-7BXd9r" target="_blank">Center for American Progress/flickr</a>)</small></p><p>Gore came to the vice presidency with his environmental street-cred already well-established. He organized the dramatic 1988 Senate hearings that brought climate change to widespread attention in the U.S. In 1992, his best-selling book, <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Earth-Balance-Ecology-Human-Spirit/dp/B0017U74TW" target="_blank">Earth in the Balance,</a> issued a set of stark predictions of environmental stress that stand up distressingly well 28 years later. Also in '92, he helped lead the U.S. delegation to the <a href="https://www.c-span.org/video/?26392-1/environment-justice-act-rio-earth-summit" target="_blank">Earth Summit </a>in Rio de Janeiro, just months before his election as VP.<br></p><p>Gore also pioneered as a punching bag for his environmental advocacy. In his successful 1992 run with Bill Clinton, sitting President George H. W. Bush derisively called Gore "<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fQXCIejY3mo" target="_blank">Ozone Man</a>." This was a particularly cheesy assault, since Bush had promised to be "The Environmental President" four years earlier.</p><p>Dick Cheney served six terms as Wyoming's lone congressman, garnering a lifetime LCV score of 13 percent. His daughter holds the seat today. Cheney also served as CEO of oilfield supplier Halliburton, Chief of Staff for President Gerald Ford, and Defense Secretary for "The Environmental President." In none of these roles was he fossil fuel-averse.</p><p>But when George W. Bush chose Cheney as his running mate and they captured the White House in 2000, VP Cheney took the reins of a task force bent on <a href="https://www.npr.org/transcripts/12067186" target="_blank">making the U.S. a new petro-state</a>, climate science be damned. Cheney muzzled a conscientious Republican EPA Administrator, Christine Whitman, and helped grease the way for oil and gas fracking.</p><p>Now years out of power, former VP Gore shared a Nobel Peace Prize and won an Oscar for <em>An Inconvenient Truth</em>. </p><p>With the Dems and GOP respectively staging their conventions the next two weeks, I'm not expecting the unexpected. Let's use the conventions as a guide. President Trump's 2016 acceptance speech <a href="https://www.politico.com/story/2016/07/full-transcript-donald-trump-nomination-acceptance-speech-at-rnc-225974" target="_blank">did not include a blessed word </a>about the environment—not even about dismantling environmental protection. Same for <a href="https://www.politico.com/story/2016/07/full-transcript-donald-trump-nomination-acceptance-speech-at-rnc-225974" target="_blank">Veep-in-waiting Mike Pence</a>.</p><p>At the Democrats' 2016 gathering, LCV President Gene Karpinski carried the green flag; a couple dozen speakers mentioned climate or environment. </p><p>And this year, who knows whether the avalanche of new emergencies will allow much oxygen to be left in the room.</p>
<p><em>Peter Dykstra is our weekend editor and columnist. </em><em>His views do not necessarily represent those of Environmental Health News, The Daily Climate or publisher, Environmental Health Sciences. </em><em><em><em><em>Contact him at </em><em><a href="mailto:pdykstra@ehn.org" target="_blank">pdykstra@ehn.org</a> </em><em>or on Twitter at </em><em><a href="https://twitter.com/pdykstra?ref_src=twsrc%5Egoogle%7Ctwcamp%5Eserp%7Ctwgr%5Eauthor" target="_blank">@Pdykstra</a></em><em>.</em></em></em></em></p><p><em>Banner photo: U.S. Senator Kamala Harris at a fundraiser hosted by the Iowa Asian and Latino Coalition at Jasper Winery in Des Moines, Iowa, in 2019. (Credit: <a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/gageskidmore/48626160183/in/photolist-2h5VMj8-2ekDc92-2h5YnBw-RY93gg-2h5Xzti-2h5YoMc-EgDZ36-EgDYYP-2gRpRbi-2gsPUCo-2gsQ2EE-2gbWGzS-2h5VMtr-2gUv722-2h5XAv8-ZrFHtP-2h5VNTk-2h5VP4k-2h5YkVR-USBQaV-RY8RCH-RY91S4-2gsPRc9-2g91q9W-RY8S3k-RY97yp-2h5YmY2-ZoPF3Q-2h5YizZ-YqqjWR-2g91pSk-2h4ZTBw-2gufAj2-2gtb57y-EgDZ6x-2gRp6WM-2gsPKM1-2gufFUf-2gsPM6Q-RY97fi-RY8Rd4-2fDY2cm-RY8U2F-2gsQ1sz-2fDY2CS-2gsQ5yf-2h5XBwB-2h5YnUf-2h5VN7R-2h5VQCT" target="_blank">Gage Skidmore</a>) </em></p>
Something that speaks volumes about the environment's low-level standing in American politics is how the environment wasn't spoken about in volumes at this week's Democratic National Convention.
<p>First, a little digression. This week's Democratic Convention, and presumably next week's Republican gathering, are absent the traditional crowds. Scripted "spontaneous applause" breaks and balloon drops are out. For the Dems at least, they substituted a political infomercial. It was at times slickly-produced and inspirational; at other moments I suspected that Jerry Lewis was about to spring back to life with an oversized telethon check.<br></p>
Young activists
<img lazy-loadable="true" src="https://assets.rebelmouse.io/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpbWFnZSI6Imh0dHBzOi8vYXNzZXRzLnJibC5tcy8yMzU3NDc0NS9vcmlnaW4ucG5nIiwiZXhwaXJlc19hdCI6MTY0MDgzODQ5Nn0.N0yea-R8GrEhiI0ZMs3R4NJMuctlCN7W0j-BInfuczs/img.png?width=980" id="fa5c1" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="0fc3b386ab3c3fd4e145d79a3c0e7e26" data-rm-shortcode-name="rebelmouse-image" alt="Alexandria Villase\u00f1or" /><p>On Wednesday, climate change got its five minutes of increasingly intense sunshine. It was a montage featuring young activists and their partial remedies for a crisis that, unlike the deep but hopefully transitory tragedy of COVID-19, is already locked in for decades to come. The star of the brief climate cavalcade was Alexandria Villaseñor, the 15 year-old New Yorker being cast as <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/news/dispatch/new-yorks-original-teen-age-climate-striker-alexandria-villasenor-greta-thunberg" target="_blank">America's homegrown Greta Thunberg</a>. The only office-holder who focused on clean energy and its promise of new jobs was New Mexico <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?reload=9&v=rztcI-DFFQA" target="_blank">Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham</a></p>
<p>For most of the four-night vote-cast, rising party stars shared the spotlight with party veterans: Three ex-presidents, two ex-first ladies, failed 2020 presidential candidates, and multiple senators, representatives, governors. None, save for Grisham and California Gov. Gavin Newsome, focused on climate change. </p>
Existential threats
<img lazy-loadable="true" src="https://assets.rebelmouse.io/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpbWFnZSI6Imh0dHBzOi8vYXNzZXRzLnJibC5tcy8xOTExODYyMi9vcmlnaW4uanBnIiwiZXhwaXJlc19hdCI6MTYxNzk0MzUwOH0.qXhJuzzeg9LXWYuoatMSlAzzoqMo3QuhktAg6wZW4yk/img.jpg?width=980" id="069c1" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="b5c15be95af0d20981ee8653fea72c47" data-rm-shortcode-name="rebelmouse-image" alt="Al Gore" /><p>One that might have is Al Gore, who was absent from the Convention. Not only has science and reality vindicated his four decades of advocacy on climate, but, long before 2016, he was the poster child for losing the Presidency by winning the vote but not the Electoral College. Gore has since been recognized with an Oscar and a piece of a Nobel Peace Prize, but never by his own party.</p>
<p>He's also been reviled by climate deniers and turned into a caricature by Republicans, all for being right about the multiple existential threats. Another reason for the Party to hear from Gore: His experience with denial and contempt for science is prologue for the rampant denial now in full bloom with the coronavirus pandemic. If contempt for science is a hallmark of America's COVID-19 failures, Al Gore has a story to tell us all.</p>
<p>In Thursday's acceptance speech, Joe Biden listed climate as one of four simultaneous crises, along with COVID-19, the economy, and race relations. "It's not only a crisis, it's a tremendous opportunity" for economic growth, he said. </p>
All wet
<img lazy-loadable="true" src="https://assets.rebelmouse.io/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpbWFnZSI6Imh0dHBzOi8vYXNzZXRzLnJibC5tcy8yMzU3NDc0Ny9vcmlnaW4uanBnIiwiZXhwaXJlc19hdCI6MTYyMDc1MTc1MH0.Z7SoUyyWvE8RqJ6I4zjHmY76HDbfJhNlcPjrgxHvYXA/img.jpg?width=1245&coordinates=0%2C95%2C0%2C96&height=700" id="0c4f4" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="53f3776134cfb71c671d6d4958a5b963" data-rm-shortcode-name="rebelmouse-image" alt="Biden Amtrak Station" /><p>Biden's speech took place in America's lowest-lying state, Delaware. I did a little eyeball research on Google Earth, where Amtrak's recently-renamed Joe Biden Wilmington Station is six feet above the current sea level—just like the clubhouse at Trump's Mar-a-Lago golf resort. </p>
<p>The Republicans meet next week, where we'll likely be treated to a few anti-regulatory, anti-science, climate-denying screeds. </p>
<p>Maybe after that, we'll get to see who's all wet. Maybe both parties. Maybe all of us who live near a coastline.</p>
<p class=""><em>Peter Dykstra is our weekend editor and columnist. </em><em>His views do not necessarily represent those of Environmental Health News, The Daily Climate or publisher, Environmental Health Sciences. </em><em><em><em><em>Contact him at </em><em><a href="mailto:pdykstra@ehn.org" target="_blank">pdykstra@ehn.org</a> </em><em>or on Twitter at </em><em><a href="https://twitter.com/pdykstra?ref_src=twsrc%5Egoogle%7Ctwcamp%5Eserp%7Ctwgr%5Eauthor" target="_blank">@Pdykstra</a></em><em>.</em></em></em></em></p>
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